Five-star Sporting Goa outclass Velsao SCC in Goa Pro League

The Flaming Orange climbed to the top position with 15 points from seven matches.

Sporting Clube de Goa secured a slaughtering 5-0 win over Velsao Sports & Cultural Club in the Goa Pro League match played at Duler Stadium on Wednesday. Rohit Totad opened the tally for Sporting in the 26th minute, while Marcus Mascarenhas scored a brace (51, 67). Stendly Fernandes and Akeraj Martins also scripted their names in the scoresheet with brilliant goals in the 69th & 86th minute respectively.

After a sloppy start to the season, Velsao registered back-to-back wins in the last two matches. They made a couple of changes to the side which secured a 2-1 win over Guardian Angels in the previous round. Cyrus Noronha and Romario Da Costa returned to the starting XI for the Mormugoa side. Sporting, who had halted Salgaocar’s unbeaten run in the last match also made few changes to their side. Myron Fernandes, Stendly Fernandes and Lloyd Mascarenhas made into the cut for the Flaming Orange.

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Sporting should have taken the early lead in the third minute when Lloyd sent the ball towards goal from close. However, his shot was cleared off the goal-line by Velsao's experienced midfielder Cajetan Fernandes. Sporting Goa came with another swift attack in the 16th minute. Alton Vaz sent a long pass to Rohit Totad in the box, who easily danced past a Velsao defender and went for glory. But, his powerful right-footer went over the crossbar.

Velsao took some time to come up with the first attack of the match. They came close to taking the lead in the 21st minute. Youngster Rohan Rodrigues found Cajetan with a fine cross, but the lad shot wide from inside the box.

Sporting’s Rohit had another opportunity to put his side ahead in the 25th minute. He found himself in a commanding position in the box, but his strike was nicely blocked by Velsao keeper Vipin Sharma. However, the Velsao custodian couldn’t clear the danger completely. Taking advantage of the same, Stendly struck at the goal from inside the box only to see it rebound off the crossbar. However, this time the loose ball was nicely headed in by Rohit to put his side ahead in the 26th minute.

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The Mormugao side once again came close to scoring in first half additional time. Romario made a brilliant through pass to James Fernandes, who made a darting run in the box and tried his luck from just inside the box, but the lad couldn’t keep his strike on target.

It was just three minutes in the second half when Veslao suffered another blow as their defender Leny Fernandes was given his marching orders following a direct red card. The lad brought down Sporting’s Marcus Mascarenhas just outside the box, who just had to beat the rival keeper to double their lead. However, the Flaming Orange couldn’t make the most from the dangerous free-kick.

Sporting Goa finally managed to double their lead in the 51st minute from the penalty kick after Velsao defender Sheldon Periera brought Marcus down in the box. Marcus himself stepped forward and sent the rival keeper Vipin the wrong way fto make it 2-0.

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The Flaming Orange, who came out all attacking after inflating their lead, had several opportunities to further extend it. However, aimless strikes from Marcus restricted the score. However, Velsao could not hold them back for long, as Sporting Goa’s Marcus completed his brace in the 67th minute. He made no mistake to head the ball home from Allan Peixoto’s cross.

They further extended their lead within the next two minutes, as a sparkling strike from Stendly left Velsao keeper Vipin stranded and made it 4-0 for the Panjim-based club.

The goal-feast did not stop here as Sporting substitute Akeraj also added his name on the scoresheet. Another substitute Lloyd Cardozo made a darting run on the wing and nicely curled the ball to the forward, who calmly chested it down in the goalmouth before tapping it home.

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